Matt Eberflus Is Not The Next Lovie Smith. He's The Next Rod Marinelli

When Ryan Poles hired Matt Eberflus as head coach of the Chicago Bears, his intent was obvious. He wanted to return the franchise to the days of Lovie Smith when everybody was held to a championship standard, and guys were accountable. Eberflus came from the same coaching tree as Smith ran a similar defense, and had similar philosophies. It seemed like a reasonable enough idea. Except there is one problem. Eberflus hasn't shown nearly the same head coaching acumen as Smith did.

The truth is he more closely resembles another member of that same coaching tree: Rod Marinelli. Most remember him as a quality assistant coach for several years, both as a defensive coordinator in Chicago and a top defensive line coach for several other teams. Eberflus has said multiple times that Marinelli was a key mentor of his during his rise to the top. In hindsight, that probably should've been a red flag since Eberflus' tenure as head coach is beginning to eerily mirror Marinelli's all-time horror show in Detroit.

Matt Eberflus exhibits the same qualities as Marinelli.

Many things characterized that three-year disaster with the Lions. Most people remember his 2008 team being the first in NFL history to go 0-16. They often forget his first year in 2006 involved a 3-13 record. It was laughable how bad they were at times. The quarterbacks threw more interceptions than touchdowns. Even the defense, his supposed specialty, ranked among the worst in the league every year. Sound familiar? Critics pointed out multiple reasons why Marinelli was such a failure.

1. He was terrible at hiring assistant coaches.
2. Didn't know how to operate as a CEO-type in the locker room.
3. Poor execution on the field.
4. Lacking imagination as a schemer.

Those are the exact same criticisms leveled at Matt Eberflus. He hired inexperienced Luke Getsy to run the offense. Alan Williams would run the defense despite evidence from Minnesota that he wasn't good at it. The execution on the field is terrible: penalties, missed blocking assignments, dropped passes, poor tackling, busted coverages. The cherry on top is analysts calling his schemes some of the most bland and unimaginative in the NFL.

Marinelli finished with a .208 winning percentage in Detroit. Eberflus sits at .176. We've seen this movie before. When you put a team lacking talent in the hands of an ill-equipped head coach, you get the 2008 Lions. These Bears resemble them more than anybody wants to admit.